Patent Literature 1 proposes a free casting method as a revolutionary pulling-up-type continuous casting method that does not requires any mold. As shown in Patent Literature 1, after a starter is submerged under the surface of a melted metal (molten metal) (i.e., molten-metal surface), the starter is pulled up, so that some of the molten metal follows the starter and is drawn up by the starter by the surface film of the molten metal and/or the surface tension. Note that it is possible to continuously cast a cast-metal article having a desired cross-sectional shape by drawing the molten metal and cooling the drawn molten metal through a shape defining member disposed in the vicinity of the molten-metal surface.
In the ordinary continuous casting method, the shape in the longitudinal direction as well as the shape in cross section is defined by the mold. In the continuous casting method, in particular, since the solidified metal (i.e., cast-metal article) needs to pass through the inside of the mold, the cast-metal article has such a shape that it extends in a straight-line shape in the longitudinal direction.
In contrast to this, the shape defining member used in the free casting method defines only the cross-sectional shape of the cast-metal article, while it does not define the shape in the longitudinal direction. As a result, cast-metal articles having various shapes in the longitudinal direction can be produced by pulling up the starter while moving the starter (or the shape defining member) in a horizontal direction. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a hollow cast-metal article (i.e., a pipe) having a zigzag shape or a helical shape in the longitudinal direction rather than the straight-line shape.